Members of the Asheville Police Department Housing Division walk through Klondyke Homes last week. Resident Quadaja Barr, 15, watches them go by. In an effort to improve safety and relationships within subsidized housing communities, APD is set to do a walk-through in one neighborhood every day.(Photo: Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)Buy Photo

ASHEVILLE – It's 5:30 on a Friday evening at Hillcrest Apartments, a subsidized housing community just west of downtown.

People are coming home from work. Two boys toss a football back and forth. Another rides his bike, still equipped with training wheels, his face barely visible underneath a bright red helmet. A mother tosses her baby up in the air.

Thousands of people will pass by this development everyday as they drive across the Jeff Bowen Bridge. For the motorists, their view will be of a few backyards, even though 544 people live in Hillcrest.

Few visitors will have a real feel for the community — other than the dozen or so police officers who have been given the job of getting to know the people of Hillcrest and the residents of Asheville's other subsidized housing developments.

Police see signs of progress in their work so far. Some residents disagree, creating the kind of underlying tensions surrounding race, poverty, access and power that have engulfed entire communities across the U.S. — from Ferguson to Baltimore.

"We're more afraid of the police than the people they are trying to protect us from," Hillcrest resident Bella Jackson said as she sat with her husband on their front porch last week.

Adding to the tension, reports of gun violence in the city's subsidized housing communities are up. The Asheville Police Department counted a 25 percent increase in reports of firearm incidents, from 71 to 89, from October through March as compared to the same time last year. Reports include 8 gunshot wounds, 64 gun discharges and 17 people with a gun in the last six months.

Community policing?

APD's 10-person Housing Division began hosting monthly meetings at each neighborhood and daily walk-throughs of the communities in April.

"We're putting ourselves out there to see what the issues are," said Sgt. Charles Wells, who oversees the Housing Division. "It's a good step for (residents) to see that we care and that we are listening."

"We can't solve this issue by ourselves, nor can they."

At a Citizen's Police Advisory Committee last month, residents of subsidized housing said community policing wasn't working, that people didn't trust police and that officers' guns caused fear in their children. They asked for alternatives to policing and improved racial sensitivity training.

Community members say officers aren't doing enough to stop the crime in their neighborhoods. Police say residents aren't helping identify and locate the shooters. Even outside groups, who advocate for racial and social justice, have called on the community to stop the violence.

At a recent meeting with APD, Hillcrest residents said the police need to focus on developing relationships with youth.

APD already partners with MANNA FoodBank to bring assistance to Asheville's poorest households and organizes monthly field trips for the youth.

In recent weeks, APD's interim Chief Steve Belcher stood beside the Stop the Violence Coalition, when the Rev. Keith Ogden held a press event to say enough is enough: Violence in subsidized housing needs to stop.

Too many young parents are benefiting from this violence, the minister said in front of news cameras. Their sons are selling drugs. There is money in their pockets, but there is no W-2 form. Innocent children are being traumatized. They are hearing the violence and hiding in closets and bathtubs.

"We have a faction of people who are afraid to report criminal activity because they are afraid their names somehow will be revealed," Ogden said. "Somehow we've got to break that cycle."

Another group, The Racial Justice Coalition, surveyed more than 500 people to better understand attitudes about law enforcement. Many who responded were clients of the recently formed collaboration of nonprofits and advocacy organizations supporting marginalized communities.

Nearly 70 percent said they wanted police to have more training on racial bias; almost 60 percent wanted improved police community relations.

In addition, nearly 85 percent of those who responded said better community conversations with law enforcement would build trust and relationships; almost 70 percent said it would improve communication.

"Our community is ready to move past the pointing fingers and arguing stage and wants to move toward collaboration with law enforcement," said James Lee, a member of the coalition. "There is traction on both sides and willingness to come to the table, even when there are difficult conversations to be had."

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Officer Albert Ball, right, talks with Klondyke Homes resident Ed Alvarado, 12, during an Asheville Police Department walk-through last week. Alvarado said he thinks the officers walking through is scary, but great. “It’s just kind of weird and kind of scary, but it’s like a happy feeling, too.”(Photo: Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)

A national response

The high profile killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson and subsequent police shootings of unarmed black men have caused communities around the country to pause and see police in a different light, said Samuel Walker, emeritus professor of criminal justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, who specializes in police accountability.

Cries for justice have given typically marginalized communities a stronger voice to demand more of their public servants, he said. Many officers are feeling besieged, like they are being accused for being at the heart of America's turmoil with race.

"They are not the cause of all our race problems, but they are at the center of a major part of them and police departments and officers have got to make a special effort to act in a professional way to eliminate misconduct," Walker said.

"Just having a community meeting is nothing," said Walker. "One of the tests is, how many people show up? Typically, there will be a big crowd at the first one, and then it will dwindle. If people don't see any value, they won't come back."

The professor, who testified at the initial hearings of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing in January, admits he is cynical.

It's hard to find good programs that have lasted, he said. Historically, the effectiveness of police efforts in marginalized communities is dubious.

After race riots in the 1960s, departments slapped together programs that faded away, Walker said. The same thing happened in the 1980s when community policing gained popularity. In the wake of Ferguson, cities across the country are being forced to respond again.

For community policing to work, it has to be more than just a crisis response, he said. It needs to be a sustained effort supported by leadership, careful planning, expert advice and best practices.

"Officers have to listen to what people have to say and address the issues that are raised," he added. "You have to act and you have to act in a way that is professional and legal."

Trust has to be earned, Walker said. For police that means overcoming years of historical mistrust between marginalized communities and law enforcement.

Turnout for the first meeting with police at Hillcrest Apartment's Community Center this month wasn't exactly encouraging.

Uniformed and armed, Sgt. Wells and senior police officer Noland Brown led the exchange as some 14 people sat in a semicircle facing officers. Four more police officers sat in the back.

"We're coming to you for help," said Wells. "We want to get the guns and violence off the street as well."

The officers wanted to know how they could improve communication with residents to better solve crime. They wanted to see if there was interest in starting a Neighborhood Watch, and if a new texting program that would allow people to report details of a crime anonymously would work.

Residents said they didn't know who was committing the violence in their neighborhoods. They didn't want to pass rumors on to the police — that the onus shouldn't be on them to solve crime. They suggested quicker response times, undercover officers and better security and camera systems.

They also said police need to do a better job garnering the trust of their community, especially its teenage boys.

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Sgt. Charles Wells of the Asheville Police Department drives in his patrol car to Klondyke Homes for the first day of a new community policing effort in subsidized housing communities last week. Residents of the city’s housing communities have struggled to get along with police in recent months, but are working together with police to improve relationships and make communities safer.(Photo: Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)

If police want more cooperation, they have to demonstrate more compassion, said Otila Davis. "You got to show them that you are here for them, that you are not going to pull your gun on them."

Residents questioned why APD stood by the Rev. Ogden and others when he shamed their neighborhood in a televised press conference. They were angry officers hadn't helped with their recent orchard planting and instead stood in uniform and watched.

"Do you all really care?" Rochelle Clement asked.

As Wells explained that officers would keep their guns on them even during community projects to better protect and serve, he told participants to look past the uniform and see the person behind it.

APD in the 'hood': The walk-through

Days after the Hillcrest meeting, the Housing Unit did its first walk-through. Eight uniformed and armed officers met in the late afternoon outside Klondyke Apartments, a subsidized housing development near Montford. They parked their cars and prepared to enter the neighborhood on foot.

It was a shocking sight. Even a nearby shop owner came out to question why so many police cars had pulled into the lot near her business.

"This is a good thing," said her mother Tara Pyton. "It makes it safer for the kids, anyway."

Senior police officer Rosie Perez-Schupp is one of few officers who has been with the Housing Unit since it began in October 2012. She knew Ellis from working as a resource officer at her school.

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Members of the Asheville Police Department’s Housing Division started regular walk-throughs at Klondyke Homes last week. Residents of the city’s subsidized housing communities have struggled to get along with police in recent months, but are working together with police to improve relationships and make communities safer.(Photo: Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)

The idea is to help communities see police in a different light, said Perez-Schupp. "The hope is this will give them a sense of equalness — just because I carry a gun doesn't mean I'm above them. The uniform is just a job."

As they strolled through the neighborhood, police waved to small kids and talked to residents who were outside about things like the weather.

They stopped to chat with two women sitting near the basketball courts. Without holding back, the women wanted to know why the police were in their neighborhood. They said they didn't trust the new, young officers on the unit.

Perez-Schupp once lived in public housing. She said it can be frustrating for officers to understand why some residents of subsidized housing don't try harder to improve their lives.

She emigrated from Puerto Rico in 1995. She was a single mother of three kids. She didn't know English. By 2003 she was with APD.

"We can do our best to feel what they want, but sometimes even if we give 150 percent, it's not enough," she said. "We are trying, we're really trying hard, but it seems like we're not getting the response we're looking for."

Coming together

Back on her porch at Hillcrest, Jackson said residents are trying to make their communities better. They have organized youth groups, they have asked for police support, and they have researched alternatives to policing and offered ideas about law-enforcement training.

People don't choose to live in subsidized housing; they come there because there is nowhere else to go, Jackson said. As long as people see residents as different than ordinary people trying to make ends meet, programs are going to fail.

The mother of two is nervous by the increased police presence in her community. "It might make our children more comfortable, but I'm not sure that is a good thing. Someday my kids are going to be dark skin men. Will the police still treat them the same way?"

"There needs to be a radical shift and change in the way we conduct policing in this country," Jackson said. "If it could happen anywhere, maybe it could happen in Asheville; Asheville's vibe is trying new things. People settle here intentionally because they share an ideal of fairness and equality."